The Providence Atoll is part of the
Farquhar Group
The Farquhar Group belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, more than southwest of the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island.
Area
The total land area of all islands in the group is less than , ...
of
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...
s in the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...
that are part of the
Outer Islands, with a distance of southwest of the capital,
Victoria, on
Mahé Island.
History
The atoll was discovered in 1501 by
Joao da Nova, a Portuguese explorer.
The atoll was under British control until 1976 when they became part of Seychelles at the time of independence.
Providence got its name after an event which happened in 1763.
A French frigate, ”Heureuse” , was stranded on its reef, 705 km from Victoria near the northern end of the atoll. The sailors reached Providence Island and were rescued a month later. It proved the salvation(fr: Providence) of the French sailors.
Cerf got its name after one of the ships of
Captain Nicolas Morphey
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, called ''Le Cerf'', who sighted the island on 30 July 1756.
Geography
The islands of Providence Atoll are small,
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...
ine and inhospitable.
The atoll has length of on its north-south axis, and about width. The total area covered by the atoll is approximating . The aggregate land area, however, is only .
West of the atoll, the sea-bottom plunges steeply to 180 metres only, 2.5 km beyond the fringing reef.
Providence Atoll Islands
There are two islands in the atoll:
Providence Island
Providence Island is located in the far north of the atoll, at . It is long north-south, and up to at its widest part. It has the shape of a
kite. The land area is 1.72 km², with a coastline of .
Cerf Island
Cerf Island is located in the far south of the atoll, south of Providence Island, at . The island is long, and up to at its widest part, but in some places only wide, which causes at high tide an appearance of a northern island and a southern island. Cerf's land area is , with a coastline of .
The closest neighbor of the atoll is
St. Pierre Island, west of Cerf Island.
Demographics
Providence Island had a small settlement in the middle of the island, at with 6 villagers,
But in 2006,
Cyclone Bondo
Intense Tropical Cyclone Bondo was the first of a series of six tropical cyclones to impact Madagascar during the 2006–07 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. Bondo developed on 15 December in the central Indian Ocean, west of Diego G ...
destroyed most of the buildings and about 60 per cent of the coconut trees,
The government plans on building an eco-tourism resort on the island in 2018, and a bidding process is already on the way.
Cerf Island has never been permanently inhabited though temporary fishermens' huts were recorded in the 19th century.
There are many shipwrecks including records of
Maldivian mariner presence in this atoll from the 20th century, when a trading vessel from southern
Maldives
Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
reached Providence Atoll after drifting in the ocean for weeks.
Administration
The atoll belongs to
Outer Islands District.
Transport
Providence Island has an airstrip operational from 2020. The airstrip enables additional support for the surveillance of the area by the
Seychelles People's Defence Force
The Seychelles People's Defence Force is the national military of Seychelles. It consists of a number of distinct branches: the Infantry Unit, Coast Guard, Air Force and a Presidential Protection Unit.
Branches
Coast Guard
The Seychelles Coast ...
. The island has no jetty. The island is rarely visited except by the occasional
Island Conservation Society expedition or by an Islands Development Company (IDC) boat from
Mahé.
Economics
Providence Island was inhabited by workers engaged in fishing and copra production probably continuously from at least 1846 until late 2006. Following Cyclone Bondo, the island was evacuated on 26 December 2006. A subsequent attempt to construct an airstrip to service the inhabitants was abandoned and the island has remained uninhabited since then.
Flora and fauna
Providence Atoll occupies an extensive bank of shallow water well known for its profusion of fish.
There are no alien mammals and the only land bird is
Madagascar fody.
Significant numbers of
greater crested tern and
black-naped tern breed at Cerf Island. There are also very large numbers of
grey heron
The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more north ...
breeding in the largest heronry of Seychelles and small numbers of
fairy tern.
Tourism
The island is a famous fly-fish destination
Info and gallery
/ref>
Image gallery
File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map 1
File:Providence Atoll.JPG, Providence Atoll
Note: This image is not aligned North/South, Providence Island runs very close to N/S, unlike this image
References
External links
National Bureau of Statistics
National Bureau of Statistics - Partial info on islands
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Providence Atoll, Seychelles
Outer Islands (Seychelles)
Atolls of Seychelles